But why are you here and not in the North?”
At Weed’s words, Bingryong couldn’t bear to give an honest answer.
“You were definitely trying to do something weird, right?”
“…”
“Do you wanna be hit and then talk? Or talk and then be hit?”
Bingryong was forced to give an inevitable confession. “To be truthful, I also wanted to try making a lair.”
Bingryong wanted to do everything that real dragons did. As his level and intelligence rose, his behavior was becoming similar to that of a real dragon.
“While I was searching through the areas, I found a large cave beneath an iceberg difficult to access by foot. After hunting the ancient monster inside, I was brought here.”
“Monster hunting?”
“When it died, something like a crack in space appeared and I ended up like this.”
“But why are you still here? Surely it’s not because you don’t know the way back?”
“…”
Bingryong looked away. The sight of him silently preening his wings sure made him like a loser!
While Weed was conversing with Bingryong and leisurely chatting away, the drunkard Smith looked anxious. Seeing as he wasn’t drinking the liquor he so liked, he was definitely recognizing the impending crisis he was in.
“Are you out of your mind?”
“What?”
“Didn’t you say the Embinyu Church’s pursuers are hot on our tail?! We have to flee quickly, how can you be wasting time here?”
If pursuers were coming, of course it was a wanted criminal’s duty to hightail it!
But Weed’s actions were considerably far from it. He did run while riding Yellowy, but trying to save time was simply on a different level; he didn’t show even a slight hastiness.
Yellowy was also on the grassland lazily munching on grass. The nature of the slowly moving cow even when it was being led to the slaughter!
Weed didn’t rush. “This isn’t something that can be done by rushing.”
“Don’t you think we should move a little more before the pursuers come?”
“Why should we?” Weed actually responded in the opposite.
Weed was one to set up an entire schedule for hunting or quests and move thoroughly, but his laxness was currently unparallelled.
“Looks like I’ll have to help.”
Smith came down from the wagon, angered.
As expected from a former Mercenary, he erased the trails they left and disturbed them; extending the time it would take for the pursuers to catch them.
“Go eastward, I surveyed the terrain and there should be a creek to the east. If we move along the creek, we can considerably reduce our footsteps and smell.”
The former Mercenary, Smith, used to have plenty of time. But as the quest progressed, he became more hurried, so he was voluntarily helping by going ahead and determining the route, erasing the trail, etcetera, and extending the distance from the pursuers with his diverse experience.
* * *
The pursuers emerged from the Embinyu Church’s temple!
It was a group consisting of 10 Dark Knights, 3 Priests, and 100 Soldiers.
“The path they are going is predetermined. After finding the Cane, they will try and revive the alliance made by the Matallost Church.”
Day and night the pursuers ran across the plains. The Dark Knights were on horseback, but the Priests and Soldiers ran with robust stamina. The pursuer group moved without rest! If their Stamina fell, the Priests cast recovery magic and blessings.
The distance between Weed and his pursuers was only a day away.